Wikipedia:Today's featured article/January 20, 2016
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Oriental Film was a film production company in Batavia, Dutch East Indies (now Jakarta, Indonesia). Established by ethnic Chinese businessman Tjo Seng Han in 1940, it completed four black-and-white films before it was closed in 1941. All the company's films were screened into the mid-1940s but may now be lost. They were directed by two men, Njoo Cheong Seng and Sutan Usman Karim, and launched the careers of actors such as Dhalia and Soerip. Established during the revival of the Indies film industry, Oriental released its first film, Kris Mataram, in July 1940. It starred Njoo's wife Fifi Young, and relied on her fame as a stage actress to draw audiences. This was followed by three more films, targeted at low-income audiences and scored with kroncong music. Njoo showed a proclivity for spectacle, using bright, extravagant costumes. Oriental's final production was Panggilan Darah, completed in 1941 after Njoo and Young had left the company. Oriental's Dutch-owned studio facilities made them the largest and most modern studio in the Indies, but they were unable to recoup the rental fees on the property, and in 1941 the company was shut down. (Full article...)